Richard Parrish

Richard Parrish was an American politician who was the Know Nothings' candidate for Sheriff of New York in 1863. During the citywide elections of July 1863, Parrish employed strongly anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant rhetoric, promising to fight back the "Hibernian horde" of Irish immigrants and to defend American democracy. He lost the election to Tammany Hall-backed Democrat Walter McGinn, who was murdered by Parrish's friend William Cutting shortly after.